“Yeah, or even dead. I ain’t his wife, so would they tell me if he were gone? Guard when I went last time wouldn’t let me send a message, just shouted at me to clear off. See, there’s a guard there who’s a bit more friendly, who’ll say a message for me or one from Jack in return. I can’t read none, or write neither, so it has to be by talking. So we don’t say nothing but that we’re well and waiting, or praying for each other. I don’t even want to say I love Jack, because the guard would make fun, wouldn’t he?”

Poor Bessie. My heart burned for her. No wonder she’d been so disagreeable, knowing the lad she loved was so close, and yet kept from her by a thick wall and time. Sent to a place as awful as the Steel for nicking a few carpenter’s tools while he tried to find work.

I would have a word with Daniel about Jack, and he could speak to Inspector McGregor. I vaguely knew that judges had to do with trials and sentencing, not the police, but perhaps the inspector could pass on the fact that Jack was a good lad and didn’t deserve such a harsh fate. As disagreeable as Inspector McGregor could be, he was fair.

I set down my cup, remembering what I was about today. “The true reason I went to the Foundling Hospital, Bessie, is to make inquiries about children who have gone missing.”

Bessie’s head jerked up. “Missing? What children? What you talking about?”

I named them. “And two more lately.”

“Oh.” Bessie relaxed. “You been misinformed, Mrs. Holloway. They ain’t missing—they’ve been adopted. Least, that’s what matron said. Bully for them, I say, if their new home ain’t foul.”

“They might not have been adopted, or fostered, at all,” I said. “The addresses of the places they were supposed to have gone don’t exist.”

Bessie took this in and understood quickly. She sat up straight. “You sure?”

“I had a look myself. No houses exist at these numbers.”

Her eyes were wide. “Where’ve they gone, then?”

“That is what I am struggling to find out. Do you have any ideas?”